Ayyám-i-Há celebration brings joy to families

In a neighbourhood in Montreal, Que., a group of children’s classes hosted an Ayyám-i-Há gathering for families in their community.

A little over 100 people gathered in the neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal, Que. for an Ayyám-i-Há party hosted by a group of four neighbourhood children’s classes. Participants included the families involved with the classes, as well as those that had expressed interest in the Bahá’í educational process.

The event started with a short, bilingual presentation on the meaning of Ayyám-i-Há, as well as a prayer and a few songs well familiar to those present. The children were given a ‘passport’ upon their arrival. After the presentation, they were invited to collect six stamps by visiting six related stations, each dedicated to a virtue: joy, kindness, perseverance, creativity, radiance, and patience. Activities included face painting, a potato sack race, modeling clay, making a sun catcher, and colouring paper gems celebrating different virtues.

The friends hosting the stations helped the children to understand the relationship between each station and the virtue. For example, the “patience” station included mandala-style colouring pages and an intricate and detailed “I Spy: Virtues” activity, both of which require patience to complete. The younger children coloured a picture of a gem with the name of a virtue inside it. They were told to pick a virtue they saw in their parents, colour the gem, and present it to their parent by saying “I see shining in your heart the virtue of…” They could pick as many as they wanted, and the children were quite eager to gift their parents with many of these gems.

Some of the parents of the children attending the classes have been studying the second unit of Ruhi Book 12: Family and the Community. This prepared them to extend meaningful conversations with parents newer to the educational process and encourage their participation. Many such conversations were had during the event, and at least a handful of children are expected to start attending the children’s classes. At least one parent asked about a parallel spiritual education for adults and expressed an interest in studying Ruhi Book 1.

Thanks to a well-organised potluck, there was a bountiful buffet of snacks available, which participants greatly enjoyed throughout the celebration. Those attending were given prayer cards and some pretty stones as a little gift before leaving. The team will now be focusing on consolidating its relationships with the parents who have expressed interest in attending the class, and hopefully planning another such event for an upcoming Holy Day.

– Sahar Sabati